Putin has no plans to dismiss govt - report

President Vladimir Putin answered in the negative when asked if he planned to dismiss the government in the near future, according to Russian TV anchor Vladimir Solovyov.

The journalist revealed this fact in an interview with Izvestia
daily as he was describing his latest film ‘The President’, to be
released on April 26. He said Putin answered all questions in a
calm and correct manner, “without a hint of any
problems.”

“When I asked him about the government dismissal, he said
no,” Solovyov said.

Other questions covered in the almost two-hour interview included
the military campaign in Chechnya, relations between Putin and
Russian oligarchs and the role of the Russian Federation in the
international politics.

In late December last year, Russia’s left-wing opposition, led by
the Communist Party, demanded that the president dismiss the
cabinet over the rapid devaluation of the national currency and
the ‘catastrophic’ budget of 2015.

Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov suggested that heads of all
parliamentary parties should discuss the “cabinet problem” with
the president and develop an urgent crisis-reversal plan. He also
said in press comments that while some government ministers were
performing very well, the spheres they are responsible for could
only be described as a complete disaster.

However, back in December Putin said that both the government and
the Central Bank were dealing adequately with the challenges to
the economy. He allowed that there were some questions regarding
the quality and timing of the actions, but insisted that the
general strategy was correct.

Putin emphasized that the current crisis was caused by external
factors and noted that he expected things to get back to normal
in a maximum of two years.